The president of the U.S. rides as a passenger around the county (and the world) in the back of a highly armored limousine called "The Beast." As formidable as this current limo is, the U.S. Secret Service is seeking bids for firms to build a next generation limo to protect future presidents.

The project includes four different phases. The first phase of the project is armor development and is already underway. Phase 2 will include the integration of the armor with final automotive components. Phase 2 also requires the selection of chassis, interior, exterior, and test vehicle fabrication and automotive component testing.

The third phase of the project will be the automotive validation with the final phase focused on production of vehicles. The contract proposal is limited to major domestic automakers with headquarters based primarily in the U.S.

The current version of "The Beast" is capable of surving brutal assaults (although it can be tripped up by driveways) [Image Source: The Daily Mail]

General Motors currently has been the primary contractor The Beast and has provided Cadillac presidential limos for 30 years.

“There’s more security around the development of a presidential limo than any of our products,” GM vice president for design Ed Welburn said in a Detroit News interview in September. “It takes a number of years to develop the car. It’s a great project to work on. This particular one, more so than any of them in the past. In the past, they were retrofitting existing vehicles — with this, this is really from the ground up a new vehicle, and we really do it right.”

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